Paris Catacombs Guided Tour

Paris Catacombs Guided Tour Itinerary

After meeting your guide in Place Denfert-Rochereau, you'll enter the spooky shadows of one of the most famous cemeteries in the French capital: the Catacombs of Paris. The labyrinthine tunnel system, a former stone quarry which stretches for an astounding 186 miles (300 km) under the city, is home to the remains of almost 2 million people - did we already say this visit isn't for the faint hearted? The bones were moved here in the late 18th century after the overcrowded necropolises began to collapse... a gruesome image!

Having climbed deep into the damp and dark underground mausoleum, hidden 65 feet (20 m) below the romantic Parisian streets, you'll be met with an inscription in French warning you that "this is the Empire of Death"... enter if you dare!

Inside, you'll embark on a guided tour through the ossuary, exploring the narrow passageways lined with skulls and decorated with bones. This tour will also give you exclusive access to areas not usually open to tourists, specifically to the rock carvings of Décure, a quarry worker from the 18th century, including a sculpture of the Port Mahon prison on Menorca, where he was imprisoned as a soldier. 

Discover the pool in which the quarrymen would wash after their day's work, and admire the Sacellum crypt and the sepulchral lamp, which was often used to test if there was enough oxygen in the tunnel network. And of course, you'll visit one of very few graves to be identified by name, the sarcophagus of the poet Nicholas Gilbert.

Following your guided visit of the Catacombs of Paris, you'll emerge back into daylight and your tour will come to an end in Rue Rémy Dumoncel, several streets away from your start point.

Skip the line access

This guided tour includes skip the line access to the Catacombs of Paris, so you'll avoid the lengthy queues to get into the fascinating attraction.